Jim Glover

As the Adage Declares, Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow.  For this Passionate Agent, it Couldn't Be More Accurate Advice. 

By Jeff Silver

   As any agent will tell you, there are a thousand-and-one details to master to be successful- contracts, inspection procedures, state legal guidelines, not to mention honing your negotiating tactics and curbside manner.  An overwhelming list to be sure, but all are skills and information that can be learned.  When it comes to true success, however, there still remains one crucial ingredient that simply can't be taught— passion.  You either have it or you don't.  It's what can make the difference between doing a good job and a truely fulfilling career. 

     That distinction is abundantly clear to Jim Glover, one of Harry Norman, Realtors® Cobb/Marietta office's top producers. 

     Glover describes his transition to real estate as being"born again."  In 1999, he left the family-owned business, Glover Machine Works, Georgia's oldest continuously-owned family enterprise, in operation prior to the Civil War. "I was the sixth generation of my family in the steel business, but it began to feel like an obligation, not something I enjoyed,"reveals Glover. "Once I started doing what I really wanted, friends began to comment on how much happier I seemed.  That's because before, I'd just been going through the motions.  Now I really feel fulfilled."

     Glover had already developed a passion for real estate, particularly historic and antebellum homes in and around Marietta, before he made it his full-time career.  He had even been buying and selling houses through the Cobb Preservation Foundation, Inc., a group he helped form to save antebellum structures in the area.  His own home, in fact, was built in 1855 and bought by the Glover family in 1909.  He moved the house from its original location in downtown Marietta to property in West Cobb near Kennesaw Mountain. "You have to be an old house nut to go through something like that,"Glover laughs.  Appropriately, he's developed a reputation as Harry Norman's"old house"guy.

"I believe house hunting should be fun.  I tell people that even though this will be one of the biggest steps in their lives, I'm here to take the pressure off, to take care of the details and make it fun!"

     The commitment and excitement he brought to his new career were obvious to everyone; his first closing came within a month of his start and his momentum hasn't slowed down since. "As the vice president of a family business, I was used to being the first one in and the last one to leave,"recalls Glover.  "I was in the office here every night until 11:00 trying to learn everything I could about the industry.  I really paid my dues those first two years."

     All the hard work has definitely paid off.

     Glover grossed $4 million in business his first year.  In 2003, five years later, he reached $11 million and was the #3 agent for transaction volume company-wide.  He expects to top all of those numbers in the coming year.  In 2002, he received a special honor from his company, the President's Award, given to one agent annually for distinguished community service and outstanding overall performance. 

    "It's just awesome.  I've been a broker for 30 years and I've never seen anybody do what Jim has done in such a short period of time,"says Patty Kendrick, Glover's managing broker.  "It's not just that he's driven to succeed.  He's got charisma, he's genuine and lets everyone he's involved with know that he cares about them.  Let's face it,"says Kendrick,"I could teach him how to write contracts, but not how to do the rest."

     According to Kendrick, another attribute that has helped make Glover so successful is his mastery of networking.  She tells the story about asking him why he goes to Cool Beans on Marietta Square every morning for coffee. "Why not sleep a little later and make it at home?"Kendrick wondered.  Withour missing a beat, he told her,"There aren't any potential customers in my kitchen." 

Managing Broker Patty Kendrick, affectionately called"Mama"by her agents, discusses  business philosophy with her top agent. "Many agents these days will cut their commissions just to get a listing.  I don't believe in that,"explains Glover.  "As a full-service real estate agent, I know I'm providing a valuable commodity to my clients.  In the end, each of my clients always feels they've received the best value for their money!"

     Colleagues and clients alike will also say things like,"He knows everyone in town,"or"We joke and call him the mayor of Marietta."  That may be a natural consequence of having family in the area that goes back for generations.  It's also what happens when you give everyone your card when you're starting out including the cashier at Kroger, and when you've established extensive community connections through your involvement with the Marietta Welcome Center, the Marietta Tour of Homes, the Cobb Symphony and the Cobb Preservation Foundation. 

     If you ask Glover about it, though, he simply says,"I've always had a strong faith in knowing I have a God who's looking out for me."  Perhaps typical of his old-south roots, that perspective influences his reaction to his own achievements.  Rather than focusing on dollars and transaction volume, he says,"It's not the material success that I'm aware of.  What really deeply moves me are the people that this job has brought into my life and how rich my interactions are with them.  Those are the things that make me realize how lucky I really am."

     His intense sense of personal connection and commitment is shared by Glover's customers.  Beth Crary, who sold one home and bought another with Glover says,"Working with him was fabulous and we became fast friends during the process."  Then she adds,"Actually, we really became more like family.  My husband and I asked him to be the godfather of our son, Elliott."

     Glover used his extensive knowledge of Marietta to help guide the Crary's to their current neighborhood.  "He really pegged what we wanted very quickly.  For instance, when we found a particular house that seemed to have everything we were looking for, he knew we wanted neighborhood playmates for our kids and pointed out that there weren't many children close by.  So he guided us in a slightly different direction until we found the right house in a neighborhood that's been perfect for us,"says Crary.

Two Passions of Jim's are shown here: Dogs and old houses.  Jim is shown in front of his own historic home, playing with his constant companion, Blessin.

     John Grassi sold his home through Glover in five months in a neighborhood where only one other home sold over the course of a year.  He says,"Jim just loves what he's doing and it comes across loud and clear.  He has a positive energy so that even several months into his advertising and marketing efforts, which were extensive, he was as enthusiastic as he'd been at the beginning."  Glover even took care of the Grassi's cat when they had to go out of town while the house was on the market. 

     Personal service like that is something every one of Glover's customers will tell you about.  Even though he carries approximately 50 listings at a time, clients like Leanne Arnason say,"My husband and I were small potatoes looking for our first home, but we could have been looking for a $5 million mansion for all the attention Jim gave us.  When you talk to him, he makes you feel like whatever you're discussing is absolutely the most important thing he has to deal with."

     Beth Crary agrees. "We spent a lot of time with Jim, but he always made us feel like we were his only clients on the face of the earth.  Even when we called him, we were never put on hold or had to wait more than ten minutes to hear back from him."

     Glover's attitude toward his profession has a profound effect on his customers.  "I believe house hunting should be fun,"he says. "I tell people that even though this will be one of the biggest steps in their lives, I'm here to take the pressure off, to take care of the details," Glover has recently formed his own team, the Jim Glover Group, which includes two buyers' agents and two administrative assistants.

     There is another element to Glover's success besides passion.  He likes the challenge of negotiating and he likes to win.  During his first year as an agent, he even managed to sell a church.  Over a period of four weeks, he was able to hammer out a contract through intensive round-robin talks with the boards of both congregations, which meant developing a consensus between twenty different people.  Talk about a negotiating challenge!

     Cheryl Mosley, who was still looking for a home with her husband, Brandon, just three weeks before the birth of their first child, was able to take advantage of Glover's negotiating skills. "We finally found the house we'd been looking for at 6:00pm on a Friday.  Jim started working with the seller's immediately and by 10:30 that night, we had a contract,"she says.

     It's obvious that passion alone isn't enough to make a career.  It has to be combined with commitment, hard work, expertise, and the ability to connect with your customers in a very personal way. 

Jim shows a client one of his listings, the Montgomery House, built in the mid 1800's. "I've always loved old homes"says Jim. "I grew up in a house built by my grandfather in 1928, in one of Marietta's historic districts.  Older homes have so much more character and history than newer homes.  They have stories behind them, and are worth preserving."

     None of this is lost on Jim Glover, who's well aware of the sweat equity he's put into his profession, but also of how lucky he's been to be able to combine his work life with what used to be a hobby he dearly loved.

    "Sure, it's been great to have my passion and my job be the same thing,"says Glover,"but when my hobby became a full-time commitment, I was getting paid to do what I love.  That just sweetened a pot that was already pretty sweet to begin with."

Jim Silver writes for a wide variety of public relations, advertising, and marketing clients.  He has also written feature articles for publications ranging from Atlanta Magazine, Business-to-Business Magazine, and the Atlanta Business Chronicle to Electronic Musician and Country Songwriter Magazine.  He can be reached at 404-786-7014 or jsliver57@comcast.net